No more door slamming?
 

Like anyone with healthy rubber seals around their doors, I find that if everything else is closed, I have to slam my door to close it completely
If a window is down, or the hatch is open, or another door is open, everything closes easily because the air has a way to escape
Is there a control module out there that you can hook to your power window switch and your door sensors that will crack the window a quarter inch when you open the door, then close the window completely once the door is shut again? Newer expensive cars do this automatically in many cases, but I've never heard of an aftermarket solution for the FD :scratch:

Sounds like a sensor to monitor whether a door is ajar/open (most cars have this) and a programmable setting on the window switch.

Is it really that much of a problem to close the door a little harder. I don't slam mine, but it do close it firmly all the way, without letting go of the door.

Me too. :icon_tup:

Is there anyone here that only makes changes when there's a big problem?

That said, I find there to be a large difference in force necessary to close the door with the window down relative to when the window is fully closed, and I figured it would be a fairly simple circuit required to remedy the situation. I'm sure someone could whip out circuit boards for $5 each and sell them for $40/50. Just wondering if it had been done by anyone. If not, no big deal, I don't drive the car that often anyway

i thought this was so your fingers dont get caught in the window.

I have to do the same thing. I hate when I have to close the hatch when the doors are close. I usually leave a door open before I close the hatch to make it easier on me.

This and how bad my windows fog up in the rain are two things that do kind of annoy me.

I've gotten into the habit of just barely tapping the window switch before getting out, which solves the problem. Don't even really think about it anymore it's kinda automatic.

Sunroof cars are a bit easier, or maybe its just in my head.

You could do it with a momentary relay built into the door circuit (switch that turns on dome light when door is open).
Super easy done with parts from radioshack.
http://www.the12volt.com/relays/page5.asp#ctm

That would roll down the window when the door is opened. To roll up the window when the door is closed I would personally prefer to use another momentary relay on the lock circuit, so when you lock the door the window rolls up. That would be most easily accomplished with an aftermarket alarm system. There's ways you could do it without having an alarm system too. If you didn't want to do the alarm thing use the wiring diagram from the above page titled "Latched On/Off Output Using a Single Momentary Pulse"

I just lower the hatch all the way down, then push it down right at the center where the lock mechanism is, works pretty well and I never have to slam it to close, kinda like how to close the hood without slamming it.

As far as the door, only my driver side does that, passenger side close easily with a gentle push, but I have to slam the driver side door. I think it is because of the rubber seal, part of it is lose and it get caught between the door and the interior plastic preventing the door from closing all the way. As far as letting air out, I think air escape from the sunroof as I can see the sunroof being lift up slighty when I close my door.

If someone want to build an automatic system for door window like bmw coupe you have to attach in the tringle of the mirror ,inside the car , a read sensor who will inform the electronic circuit when the window is open so when you open the door they do nothing because is allready open and an other option when the window is closed then with a relay send voltage about 1 sec to open the window and when you close the door and the light switch off with second relay reverse the pollarirty and close the window until the read sensor send trigger to the electronic circuit so you are sure that window closed.
The after market alarm system use automatic circuit braker fuse so when the window closed and from the fuse pass more current then the fuse brake the circuit and stop but some times this didnt work well.

you have to be pretty lazy to want to have the same feature most new cars have to prevent slamming your door when all you have to do is hold the door by the handle and give it a firm push.

For those having this issue, what year is your car? I was noticing that there are 2 part numbers for the relief valve or as the part manual calls it, chamber extractor. I was wondering if there later one is better.

Mine was so bad that I was afraid I was going to break the window when closing the door. When I made a hole for my new gauges sensor wiring it helped with this issue. I want to take a look at the relief valve behind the rear bumper and see if I can make it work better...if it is even working because my hatch still a bitch to close. At least I can do it with the door close now.

From all my past FD, this one is pretty bad. A lot of people really notice it, even other FD owners.

I get a nice solid thunk, but I need to close it pretty firmly
Not something I'm going to bitch about, but if there were a $40 circuit I could solder in, I'd be all for it

What is a relief valve chamber extractor?

It is supposed to let air scape when closing the door or hatch.

it's about the same thing... except you can see the sunroof move because of the air pressure lol :nod:

Honestly Mike, your worry about the most trivial things.

Just slam the bitch!

The newer cars that do this typically don't have a frame around the window. So the glass of the window is actually sealing against the rubber on the car.

The window sliding down a little protects the glass from slamming against the car itself. It is not meant to make the door close easier.

I'm not sure about every car out there, but I've never seen this auto open function on a car that has enclosed frame windows.

If someone actually goes through the trouble of making this type of circuit for there FD, they are wasting time that could be spent on something meaningful. I would think this type of thing would be absolutely last on the priority list.

A reason for looking for a solution
 

A little rushed to close a balky door, I gave a hefty push to close it.
Unfortunately, I pushed on the metal part of the door.
Result: bent metal and a visual defect. Regret function high. And long lasting.

Now I always try to push on the door handle corner and keep my fingers out of the way.
My vote for this being a worthwhile contribution.

cheers

When I got my car a few months ago, I think it took 3 or 4 tries to finally close the door. :)

You get the hang of it after a while.

Yup, I have a fairly low mile R1 and it is really noticeable how much force it takes to close a door if nothing else is open in the car.

Only time it has posed a problem for me is when passengers getting out in the pits and then I get flagged off track for having my door ajar.

I have learned to put my window down a bit when I am kicking people out of my FD and give a glance down the side of the body in the door mirror.

I was also looking at the parts fische at that Dr. side vent behind the rear bumper wondering if that would fix the issue.

Also the hinges could be slightly out of alignment causing the door to sag ever so little. And that little bit if sag could result in harder closing door.
For example .. my driver side door is significantly harder to close VS passenger door. Just test it 1 at a time closed driver side and just try closing passenger door. Closed passenger side and close your driver side. With everything else closed and sealed of course

Interior pressure didn't matter on mine... It just didn't want to close. I had to replace the door receiver assemblies to fix mine.


​​​​​​​The only difference in receivers I could see was the replacements had the oem plastic coating on the latch hardware. It was worn off on the problem latches.

My driver door was difficult to close too although the plastic coating was still present. I disassembled the door and latch hardware, cleaned and re-greased all the linkages. Now the door is much easier to close, but it does require more force with the windows up, just not the herculean force it used to require. So, I recommend you overhaul your door hardware to significantly reduce the closing force necessary. Remember the inside of the door is basically exposed to the weather and after 25 years it is dirty and the grease, if it is still there, is dried up. While you are at it, replace all the little plastic clips that connect all the various lever rods inside the door most of them are worn and/or brittle. I got my clips at clipsandfastners.com

i think it was dale that mentioned it in one of the older threads
maybe he can clarify.

best way to go about it is to buy new hinges and checkers
they are not that expensive however, the lower hinges is NLA lol

If the door is hitting on the frame, you may just need to re-adjjust the door. LONG time ago I worked on a 93 R1 that had a sagging driver's door. Opened the door, put a block of wood and floor jack under the door, then loosened the hinges and brought the door up a bit. A few iterations of that and the door was lining up right and closed fine.

I think the hinges are pretty hardy, it's just things getting out of adjustment. But if all else fails you can probably get used hinges fairly cheaply.

Dale

Absolutely NOT!

We need to keep him online and slaving away in the garage...

Lol at this old thread. Good to know wanting to make the doors less annoying to close is being "lazy". My definition of lazy is having the ability to fix or improve something and choosing not to because its difficult or there's not a drop-in solution.

It should be apparent if you have an issue with a misaligned latch or sagging door. Otherwise I've learned to firmly close my door keeping a steady force on latch all the way to close...and not just swinging as I walk away. I think it's reassuring in a way that the car is so tight. I remember back in the 70's and 80's when frameless door glass was all the rage. Big heavy doors on brass bushings and it seemed like crap rattled and leaked air constantly. These cars on the other hand are 25+ years old now and we're complaining about them?

I've had a bit of the opposite problem with my driver's side door actually, once it's closed it takes 2-3 times the effort of the passenger side door to open, my first thought is some of the weather stripping could be getting jammed but it looks fairly clean all the way round and the door doesn't appear to be sagging or misaligned. Opening it from the inside is easy as anything so possibly a latch or handle issue now that I think about it

Is it hard to pull the handle from the outside? Probably just needs some grease, they do stick after a while.

The handle definitely requires more effort to move compared to the passenger side and both the internal and external locks are very stiff as well - I'll start by giving it a good cleaning/lube and see if that sorts it out or if I'll need to dig a bit deeper.

Check out this thread for a very effective grease for the door parts. (Yea, I know I'm hyping my own thread :dunno: )

Good find on the Clipsandfasteners door rod clips! Are both p/n used on FD?

If wanting to improve every aspect of the car to suit your needs and fancies is complaining, then I guess so! :) Why be satisfied with it because its 25 years old? Now, will I be spending lots of time to improve this minor annoyance now or instead work on putting my rebuilt engine back in my car..? I'll let you guess. :D

If the door slamming really bothers you, get some late spec door seals. They're thinner and a different design, the result is doors that close with a fairly gentle push. I own a 1992 and a 2002 FD and the difference is very noticeable when switching between the two.

Great tip on the late model seals.
You wouldn't have part numbers, would you?

​​​​​​​Some vendors will sell older stock as current.

I'll check the differences between my two cars and get you a list of part numbers in case you need more than just the one seal per side :icon_tup:.

Here is the late spec inner seal, rest of the seals look the same across models.

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/970/4...c41ec884_c.jpg

Part numbers are:
Left: FD0168912B-02
Right: FD0168911B-02

HTH
Tom.

Thanks for the info whats that rubber patch thing

also does anyone know where and how we can order oem parts from japan ?

Optional extra on JDM FD's. Somewhere to plant your hand when getting out :icon_tup:.